The leadership of Ghana’s major farmer groups and agribusiness associations has declared a nationwide boycott of the 2025 Farmers’ Day celebrations, citing government inaction and worsening challenges in the country’s food production sector.
The decision, announced in a joint press release on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, involves rice producers and millers, maize farmers, mechanisation service providers, input dealers, apex farmer associations, and other key players in the agribusiness value chain.
The boycott will affect Farmers’ Day activities at the district, regional, and national levels.
According to the statement, the action reflects deep frustration among farmers over the government’s continued failure to address critical issues, particularly those affecting rice, maize, and soya producers.
The groups accused the government of neglecting its commitment to purchase locally produced rice and maize through the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), as promised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in a public statement issued on September 23, 2025.
“Despite repeated government assurances, farmers are still waiting. No action has been taken, and many producers are unable to sell their harvests,” the statement said.
The farmers also expressed concern about the growing influx of cheap, expired, and smuggled rice into local markets, which they allege is backed by politically connected importers.
According to them, these products are often repackaged and sold without proper regulation or tax compliance, undermining local farmers and millers.
As of last week, more than 200,000 metric tons of paddy rice from the 2024 harvest reportedly remain unsold across the Upper East, Northern, and North East regions.
With Ghana’s 2025 rice output projected at 1.5 million metric tons, farmers fear that an oversupply could push many out of business.
The farmers are demanding a six-month suspension of all foreign rice imports beginning in November 2025, alongside tighter border controls.
They are also calling for a long-term import management strategy based on national production capacity, as well as a directive requiring public institutions, including schools, hospitals, prisons, and security agencies, to source rice and maize exclusively from local farmers.
In addition, they want the Ministry of Finance to immediately release funds to NAFCO to purchase surplus produce and to introduce a guaranteed minimum price for rice and maize to protect farmers from exploitation.
The farmer groups stressed that their decision to boycott the event is not meant to undermine the importance of Farmers’ Day but to draw attention to the urgent need for government action to safeguard local agriculture.
“This action is not an attack on the idea of honouring farmers, it is a united message that we cannot celebrate policies and practices that are destroying our livelihoods,” the statement read.
The boycott has been endorsed by several major agricultural bodies, including the Association of Rice Producers and Millers, Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF), General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB), and others.
The Committee for the Promotion of Local Rice and Other Commodities, which issued the statement, said the boycott will remain in effect until the government meets the farmers’ demands.
